quiets

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of quiet.

   Soft music quiets the restless ward through the long night shift.

   The conductor quiets the orchestra before the final movement begins.

   Note

   One verb form covers two uses. With an object it means calming something: the conductor quiets the orchestra. Without one, the subject itself settles: the room quiets as the lights dim. It has the same spelling as the plural noun, so tell them apart by position. The verb follows its subject. The noun takes an article or adjective, as in the sudden quiets.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of quiet.

   The sudden quiets between artillery bursts unsettled the soldiers more than the noise itself.

   Composers exploit the deliberate quiets in a score to heighten the passages that follow.

   Note

   The noun behind this plural is usually uncountable: people speak of quiet, not of a quiet. It takes a plural only when separate stretches of silence, stillness or calm are marked off and counted, like the lulls between artillery bursts or the pauses written into a score. For one general, unbroken calm, the singular remains the natural choice.

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